Shc_31

Promote communication in health, social care or children’s and young peoples settings 1 Understand why effective communication is important in the work setting 1.1 The different reasons why people communicate throughout of the work setting is so that we all have good working relationships with each other. There is a lot of ways and reasons in which why people communicate. People communicate to build and maintain their relationships not just within the setting but outside of the setting with parents, carers, visitors or other professionals who come into the setting. We show this by talking to every individual in the work setting, letting them know that we are all here to talk back to if they need it, showing we are interested in what they have so say and that we are listening very carefully. Just by saying good morning, hello, how are you today, what did you do over the weekend is building that relationship what we want for everybody within the setting. It is also very important to have a really good relationship with your key children so that you can make sure all there needs are being met an that you are up to supporting all of the children’s development. Communication is also needed to share ideas and thoughts with each other especially when planning for the children so that you can meet of the children‘s needs. People also communicate to express their feelings and tell about their needs. Children also need someone who they can trust and know that someone is going to listen to them so that they can also express the feelings if people or children are not able to do this they can become frustrated and isolated. 1.2 Communication affects relationships in the work place by keeping good skills of communication very strong. Communication skills must be kept up to standard throughout the setting towards every one including -: All staff as they should all be there to help each other out when ever anyone is facing a stressful time or having any difficulties in or out side of the work place. Children as they are the most important because they need to build trust with all staff members before even starting the nursery, they need to feel that they are able to go to anybody within the setting when they are feeling a little unsure. This also includes all children moving from room to room. Parents because they pass on all the information to us about their child, so they need to know that if they have any concerns about their child or the setting that they are able to communicate with any of the working staff members in a positive manner. Visitors who come into the setting so that they are able to help with a child if needed. Communication helps us not only relate better to each other, it also helps us do more with minimal effort. Communication is everything in the work place you have to be with these people all day you have to rely on each other. 2.2 The factors to consider when promoting effective communication are -: The environment - it is very important that we think about the place or the room in which we want to communicate in as people may be uncomfortable were they are. It is also important to choose the right environment as it could be to noisy in the place where we consider having a talk or a meeting this could cause confusion and misunderstanding of the conversations which are being carried out. Adults and children all need a place in which they feel relaxed in. Proximity - this s about how much distance there is between you and the person that you are dealing with, whether this is an adult or any of the children in the setting. Posture - posture is a very effective communication as this can send out to many different messages to the person or persons that you are talking to. This can be in ways that you don’t mean it to be, it is the way it comes across, example - if you are sitting around a table an your learning back in your chair just sitting an watching the person this can look like that your not interested in what they are trying to say to you, as to if you was sitting forward in your chair and smiling or nodding your head shows that you are interested and listening to what they have to say you. Face to face communication - this is the most important one as this is used in many ways of communicating with everyone. Face to face communication includes very effective facial expressions and eye contact with the people or children you are dealing with. To have a very effective communication system throughout the work place, we must treat every single person and all children with different individual needs as we may need to change the way that we communicate others as some people may hearing impediment, they speak a different language, an adult may need to lip read, we may also have to write down the information, we may have to communicate using sign language. We can adapt the ways in which we communicate this is important as it will make the them all feel respected throughout the work place and they will also appreciate the effort our work setting has put in place for them to receive information pr for them to pass the information on to us. By communicating effectively it gives everyone the chance to understand what you are saying if they have misunderstood what you are saying they may think that you have lied to them or purposefully not explained to them fully what if going to happen. 3.1 People from different backgrounds may use written forms of communication as their English language may not be up to standards. They may also have translators or a member of the family who has good English language so that they are able pass information on about their child including their dietary needs, emergency contact number, a password for the child so that other members of the family are able to collect them from the setting, d.o.b, address and any medical information that we should know about. 3.2 The barriers to effective communication - No matter how good the communication system in the work place is, unfortunately barriers can and do often occur. It is also important to recognize when communication is flowing smoothly as well as when barriers arise that cause problems with effective communication. This may be caused by a number of factors which can usually be summarised as being due to physical barriers, system design faults or additional barriers, verbal, body-oriented, cultural or language-oriented, and psychological. System faults refer to problems with the structures or systems in the setting this might included the environment structure which is unclear and therefore makes it confusing to know who to communicate with. Other examples could be inappropriate information systems, a lack of supervision or staff training, and a lack of clarity in roles and responsibilities which can lead to staff being uncertain about what is expected of them. Physical barriers could have effect on parents and children if the staff keep changing from room to room this could cause the parents feeling that they are not able to pass on information as they don’t know who they are actually talking to. It is important to notice verbal barriers to communication by thinking about the way that you speak to people. Verbal barriers include speaking in a quiet or a low tone voice, using confusing language, and mumbling or not speaking clearly. Barriers to communication in body language include crossing arms and legs, having bad posture, fidgeting while speaking, and avoiding eye contact this will come across as you are not willing to listen to what they have so say to you. Cultural barriers include age, gender, ethnicity, religion and all other cultural aspects of life that make people different from one another. Language barriers are easy to recognize because of their obviousness, but can cause a major barrier to effective communication. Noticing these barriers to effective communication is the first step towards better communication throughout of the setting. Once noticed, these factors can be looked at and a greater personal and professional awareness can be developed. It is then important to try to change these barriers into more effective means of communication we could do this by having more training on communication for all of the staff working in the setting. 3.5 To access extra support or services in which will help individuals to communicate more effectively we would involve speech and language services mainly for the children who have speech problems and need a lot of support to help them with their speech. We would also involve this services if we had parents or visitors (students) with hearing problems or if they have to lip read and if they have to use sign language to communicate. As a setting we would also involve translation and interpreting services as there maybe some parents or children that come from different backgrounds and they are not able to speak English or they may be to speak English but they con not understand English writing so they will find it hard to fill in all the information that the setting needs before their child can start nursery. 4.1 The meaning of the term confidentiality is to make sure that you keep all information about any one that has been given to you safe. It is also about respecting peoples rights to have their own privacy. As practitioners we must make sure that all information passed on to us is not passed on to others outside of the setting, in some cases you may only be allowed to share information passed on to us with our manager. You gain a lot of trust off every who is willing to pass on information to you if this information is spilled you could loose the trust of that person. All people who come into the setting are told about our confidentiality polices and that we are very strict about any information from the inside of the nursery passed on to the out side of the setting. Our confidentiality policy also states that all staff are aware of how important this is and follow the procedures in place in the setting to ensure problems do not occurs. The only time that confidentiality should be broken is if you believe that the child is in any danger and that talking to the child’s parents may not be in their best interest. Some information given to us may have to shared out with the whole of the working staff in the setting as the information about the child may include allergy, diet, if the child has someone else picking them up ( a password must be provided ) or if they have been given any medication to be taking while in our care. 4.3 The potential tension between maintaining an individuals confidentiality and disclosing concerns is that confidentiality should always be observed if your role is a privileged one. However, where there is a duty of care, disclosure should take place specifically in relation to child protection and duty of care to protect the individual. The tension between the need to maintain control over personal information is that others may hold back because of concerns about the privacy and confidentiality to protect the feelings of others. Tension is when your professional role know something, but it does not fall into the above category, and must therefore maintain professional confidentiality. Confidentiality might be breached if you have any concerns about the child this may included suspected abuse or family problems. Breaching confidentiality is a very serious matter so you must always check your work places policies and follow the procedures that are in place.